Combustion engine, piston, and bearing



E. J ELsAs COMBUSTION ENGINE, PISTON," AND BEARING Oct. 20, 1925.

2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 6, 1924 Oct. 20 1925.

E. J. .ELSAS COMBUSTION ENGINE, PISTON, AND BEARING Filed Dec. 6, 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 M hatma Patented Oct. 20, 1925.

UNITED STATES EDWARD J. ELSAS, or

COMBUSTION ENGINE,

PATENT OFFICE.

KANSAS CITY, mssouar. rrsron, an]: amine.

Application filed December 6, 1924. Serial No. 754,381.

To all whom it may comm:

Be it known that I, EDWARD J. ELsAs, a citizen of the United States, residing at Kansas City,'in the county of Jackson. and State of Missouri, have invented a new and useful 'to raise the bearing as high in the piston as practical thereby gaining the double advantage of lengthening the leverage lines of resistance to gyration while .at the same time shortening the explosion shock leverage lines.

Another object is to provide a connecting rod bearing for pistons in which one member is rotatably mounted upon a substantial and positive automatically tightening device 1 for self adjustment and for compensation necessary.

for wear in the bearing.

Another obJect is to provlde a piston of this character constructed so that the upper portion cannot beat against the cylinder curve, if any, instead of an mcurve is proof walls under explosion shock.

Another object is to provide a piston of this character witha tight fit, broad and thin sectioned bearing and wearing ring upon the skirt of the piston which may be easily attached and removed.

Another object is to provide a iston in which all of its wearing and bearing parts are easily removed for replacement when With the foregoing and other objects in view which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention resides in the combination and arrangement of parts and in ,the details of construction hereinafter described and claimed, it being understood that changes in the precise embodiment of the invention herein disclosed may be made within the scope'of what is claimed without departing from the spirit of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings F1gure 1 represents a! side elevatign of a piston constructed -in accordance w1th this invention and mounted in operative position in the cylinder, the latter being shown in section;

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical sect-ion through the piston and cylinder;

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a similar view taken on the line 4--4 of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 5 is a top plan view of the collar employed in the structure. i

In some cars the piston has great width for its lengthand .acenter pinpivot bearing which with its weight are prime causes of piston gyration with momentum. -A ball and socket bearing is undesirable in a piston because of the excessive weight as compared with its thrust bearing surface and its too great heat-holding and other defects.

It has been found by examining the pistons of various cars that the most wear of the cylinder side extends beyond the area of greatest side pressure from the rod and is thence caused by gyration of the piston upon its pin whereby battering of its upper corner against the cylinder wall by the shock of the explosion is produced. If the back pressure of the down power stroke of the rod where the chief cause of the uneven wear the vertical outlineof the worn face of the cylinder wall would show an incurve at the top and the fact that it shows an outthat the wear at this point is not due chiefly to resultant cross head forces but to gyration of the piston upon its pivot bearing. It is understood thatthe gyration would be influenced enough of course by rod side pressure, its pivot or balance thrown enough upon that side, on initial downward motion of the piston as .to cause the chief hammerw ing on the side that the side pressure directs. Many devices have been devised to counteract the common one "side wear 0f.cyl-

, inders and it has been found that there are only three conceivable causes other than pis ton gy'ration that could affect uneven wear at the'very top of the piston and cylinder, 'these are:

' First, the momentum of the directed pisi piston ring and apparently this begins at a stage too' late to account for the wear.

Third, side pressure of the connecting rods in the down power stroke, but this 1s less at the very top of the cylinder, than it is at one tenth down the stroke where expert engineers put the climax of side pressure.

Experiments have proven that the chief wear of motor cylinders is caused by explosion shock gyration of the piston upon its pivot pin and not by piston rod side pressure.

Uneven wear of the upper areas of the piston and cylinder are further caused by oil pumping and beating of'the piston rings which is increased by their attaining vertical motion from wear and by there being an open clearance beneath the rings.

It has also been found that while piston rings may fit in the top of the cylinder tightly, four rings in grooves often doing so in pistons, yet the usual piston by necessary clearance beneath its rings and about its top is permitted a hammering, battering and lateral motion under shock and this-is confined of course to the rod pressure sidealthough not caused by rod back.

PI'GSSIII'G per se.

There is also another point to consider,

.which is this, that a piston naturally wears first and most at its ends. Thus if .any part of the mid area is a snug fit to start with and a clearance. provided at the top there will be some natural binding here under the explosion shock and a very littlewear of the cylinder and piston will cause this snug fit central area to become a leverslits 3 and outwardly separated from the iston head by an annular slot 4. The ody. of the iston 1 has within it a plurality of radlal webs5, any desired num- .ber of which may be employed, six being here shown. These webs stiffen the piston so that it can be made of thin light-metal and they also conduct the heat away from the bearing and carry the connection rod bear mg in an automatic device to be descri ed for adjustment'and wear compensation. s shown the skirt 2 is divided by the spira slits 3 into three sections each of whichis carried by a pair of the webs 5, the inner edges of which are thickened as slown at 5 to strengthen the thread there- 0 These webs 5 not only stiffen the piston and dispose of the heat but are made broader and deeper toward the middle part of the piston to carry its bearing mechanism, their deepest portion not uniting them but having space 6 shown. left open for free cooling circulation.

The piston rod head bearing 10 is constructed of special bearing metal is made in the shape of a spherical shell with its periphery or border thickened as shown at 11 and the outer face of said thickned portionthreaded and adapted to be screwed 'into a seat formed in the inner edges of the webs 5 as is shown clearly in Fig. 2, said thread and seat taking the piston thrust.

The connecting rod 12 is of tubular formation and its upper end is threaded into a small block head 15 with a fine tight thread and the lower or inner part of the thread is soldered or brazed to prevent its turning after being seated.

The bronze rod head 15 has a depending circular or tubular center 16 which is threaded to receive the rod 12 as is shown clearlyin Fig. 2.

To further decrease the heat holding properties of the head and to lighten it, it is hollowed out to form webs 17.

This sphere sect-ional rod head 15 is equipped with diametrically opposite radially extending arms 18 the lower edges 19 I of which are rounded as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2 which are journaled a little beyond the dead center of the axis of-the head rotation and, adapted to coact with the main bearing for the head. These arms 18 are mounted in suitable seats 21 formed in a hard metal washer or collar 20, upon which the rod head rocks as the engine is in motion and also has a rot-ative reciprocal action in its bearings 10. The rod head 15 is mounted through the collar 20 to slide .upon' a strong ring 22 which is coarsely threaded into the webs 5 and is operated by a tension spring 24 hooked at one end to one of thewebS 5 and at its other end to the ring and by meansof which the rod head 15 is automatically if kept tight in place.

To accommodate the coiled spring 24 the lower portion of the ring 20 is reduced on its outer face as shown at 26.

To assemble the parts of this piston the bearing ring 2 2, and the collar 20 are placed on the connecting rod 12. Then the -rod head 15 is screwed onto the upper end of the rod in proper position and soldered or brazed if necessary. These connected parts are then inserted in the piston 1 and the ring 22 moved into position and the tension spring 24 tightened up and hooked.

The piston 1 has the Whole middle area 30 of its outer circumference formed with a clearance between it and the cylinder wall so that this part can'not bind the piston or rings 31 and on the sides of their groove or by-wear become a fulcrum over which the chamber may be taken up and the, whole l piston ends will hammer against the cylinassembling tightened after wear.

31 are mounted. This ring 32 is threaded der wall.

The cylinder wallbearings of the piston ring 33 which is mounted on the outer face are composed of removable rings 31 located of the lower portion of the skirt fits tightly at the upper portion of the piston, three of and is preferably made of expandin rewhich are here shown. These broad faced silient material having a step-shape piston rings 31 occupy about allof the up-v viding slit 36 and is equipped at its upper per portion of the cylindrical face of the edge with an inturned flange 37 designed to piston and have their inner portions made fit in a groove in the face of the piston. At

resiliently resistful instead of free to strike its lower edge it is equipped with an'in- I l -at' their inner edges are adapted to' turned flange 38 which seats against the end strike the bottom of their groove as soon as of the piston. In the assembling of the pisor sooner than any part of the piston can ton proper and its parts the broad oil wlping laterally strike the cylinder wall under exand wear bearing ring 33 is slipped into- 'plosion shock. These rings constitute the place on the piston skirt. The piston rings whole cylinder wall bearing of the piston 31, each with its packing is slipped on the except the tight fit gyration resisting, broad head end of the plston without requiring to wearing ring 33 carried by the piston skirt. be strained or expanded appreciably. The The rings 31 are channeled in cross section adjusting and fastening ring 32 is then with the grooves 0r channels faced inwardly threaded on the piston head and bears down and packed with a resilient fire-proof felt on the rings 31 with the required pressure to or light substance 34 which is graphited tohold them in operative position. insure against passage of oil of gases. The I clainlzpacking in the rings31 may largely resist 1. The combination of a hollow piston: and side shock of the piston, as well as permaa connecting rod, an abbreviated form.of nently prevent oil pumping which is usually ball and socket joint uniting said rod and around the inner sides of the usual rings piston, the ball member of said joint being and are equipped with edgewise dis osed held in universal rotative union with its sheet steel ribbon springs 31', whic are socket, radial webs mounted in said piston made serpentine in form as shown in Fig. 3 and supporting said socket member, the ball and have each a longitudinal opening to member of said joint being carried by said allow its free longitudinal movement and rod, means for supporting the rod carried which operate to increase the resiliency of bearing member to permit rocking of said the packing 34 and thereby assist in forcin member when the engine is in motion also to the rings out against the cylinder wall an permit rotative reciprocable action of said prevent leakage of the oil past the piston. member in its bearing socket, and means for These rings 31 are broad to provide a good automatically tightening said joint members outside bearing and wear surface and are and retaining them in operative position. replaceable when worn. The rings 31 con- 2. The combination of a hollow piston stituting the whole upper bearing of the pishaving radiating webs in its inner end, a ton may be easily removed and new ones segmental shell-like bearing member fixed installed should lateral vibration of the top to the inner ,ends of said webs, a connecting of the piston develop. rod having a convexed head to fit in the web The rings 31 are located in one annular carried bearing, diametrically opposite ragroove formed in the outer face of the pisdially extending arms carried by said head, ton 1 whereby a maximum bearing surface a collar surroundingv said rod and havin of this end of the piston is provided and seats to receive said arms, said seats an also adapts all the rings tobe. tightened in arms having a rocking connection, a rod, and a single operation. a tension spring engaged at one end with Forming the periphery or border of the said ring and at its other end with one of piston head is a somewhat square sectioned said Webs -by means of which the ring is interiorly threaded ring 32 having an annuturned and the rod head automatically kept lar flange at,its upper edge which extends tight .in position. v out over-the-seat in which the pistonrings 3. The, combination of a hollow piston the piston head with a coarse and loose fitsegmental shell-like bearing member fixed to ting thread packed with graphite or other e inner ends of said webs, a connecting rod non-combustible lubricating substande to having a convexed head to fit in the web carprevent' the ring from welding or adhering ried bearing, diametrically opposite radially to the piston. This ring is also equipped extending arms carried by said head, a collar with wrench holes 35' to facilitate its turnsurrounding said rod and having seats to reing. By simply turning down this ring 32 ceive said arms, said seats and arms having the wear on the horizontal faces of the a rocking connection, a ring coarsely threado1\:ving radiating, webs in its inner end, a-

ed into said webs and surrounding said rod, a tension spring engaged at one end w1th said rings and at its other end with one of v said Webs by means of which the ring is turned and the rod head automatically kept tight in position.

4. The combination of a hollow piston having radiating Webs in its inner end, a segmental shell-like bearing member fixed to the inner ends of said webs, a connecting rod, a convexed head threaded on said rod and adapted to fit in said bearing member,

said head having a depending circular skirt threaded onto the rod and hollowed out to form webs, a collar surrounding said rodand having a connection with said head to provide for rocking of the head when the engine is in motion, and means threaded into said web and operable to automatically tighten the head and hold it in operative po- 'sition.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto afiixed my signature.

EDWARD J. ELSAS. 

